Psychologists have expressed concerns over the increasing factors that are contributing to mental health problems at the workplace. 

Making her contribution at a virtual meeting yesterday, organised by North East Regional Coordinator of the Young African Leaders Initiative RLC Alumni Association, Nigeria, Dr Peter Ajanson, in commemoration of this year’s World Mental Health Day, a Clinical Psychologist, Dr Yetunde Awobode, urged employers to pay attention to the mental health of their employees.

According to her, many employees are being exposed to mental health problems at the workplace due to different factors like job insecurity, workloads, under-payment, incessant job swaps, lack of training, and bullying from superiors. 

She said: “We need to pay more attention to mental health issues at our workplace because a healthy employee is a productive staff. We need to make our workplace friendlier for people to work. A workplace shouldn’t be a place of anxiety. We have seen many people coming down with different cases of mental health problems, and mostly, these are being recorded at the workplace.”

Also, the National Coordinator, National Mental Health Programme, Department of Public Health, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunde Masseyferguson Ojo, spoke on the National Mental Health Act and the rights to quality and accessible treatment of mental health issues. 

He noted that that though unfavourable government policies could trigger mental health conditions, the expert added: “We cannot shy away from the role of government economic policies –particularly those that are not too favourable to the masses. People have expectations, and when this is not being achieved, they tend to be developing mental problems.”

“Although, we have to acknowledge the resilience of Nigerians, but we must be careful of what we do and put our minds. We should know that our mental health matters,” he said.

Ojo stated that mental health is one of the most stigmatised in the health sector, adding that people’s failure to monitor their mental health has fuelled the high rate of suicide globally. 

He said t18 states have established mental health desks, while others are being encouraged to do so in line with the National Mental Health Act.

In his remarks, a medical doctor, Peter Ajanson, encouraged workers to use their working hours judiciously, explaining that the most productive hours of the day are spent at the workplace.